We have found a source for inexpensive 4" round wood posts but my husband doesn’t think that we should use anything less than 5-6". Has anyone successfully used 4" posts for long fence lines? If so, what type of fencing did you use and do you have photos? Thanks!
We used 4" x 6" white oak posts. Rough cut oak boards.
We used 4" x 8’ posts for our fence, and they are fine. Our property is small and we don’t have any super long lines. If I had to do it again, though, I would go with at least 5" posts. I’m not sure the 4" posts will last over a long period of time.
I assume you mean 4" diameter posts, by 8’ long. They will probably hold the fence up fine, but they may not hold up well if horses are pushing on them. If you’re putting in electric, this won’t be a problem, but it might be iffy with other types.
Your corner posts would definitely want to be more solid for anything under tension.
I stick with 6" or larger posts for corners, but I use 4" posts for support braces and any posts that are not main corner posts.
fencing here is high tensile electric.
I should add that all our corner posts are 6" and we have a hot wire. The horses don’t touch the fence, but over time I do think weather will wear down the 4" posts a lot faster than bigger ones.
My SO agrees with your SO and used larger posts. It’s been close to 20 years and most of them look great (cypress so bug and rotting resistant). Larger posts last longer.
We’ve always used 4" x 4" for line posts, 6" for corners and gates.
These have worked fine for our climate (on the dry side). I think that you need to take soil type into consideration, as well as climate.
